World premiere of Rodgers & Hammerstein: Out of a Dream coming to Commercial Drive

Mark Leiren-Young, Special To The Sun01.31.2014

Kazumi Evans and Sayer Roberts in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Out of a Dream, which is playing at the York Theatre from Feb. 5-16.David Cooper
/ David Cooper Photography

Peter Jorgensen, whose company, Patrick Street Productions — which he runs with Katey Wright — was among the groups that lobbied to save the York Theatre.

Kazumi Evans from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Out of a Dream, which is playing at the York Theatre from Feb. 5-16.David Cooper Photography
/ David Cooper Photography

From left: Sayer Roberts, Caitriona Murphy, Warren Kimmel and Kazumi Evans in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Out of a Dream, which is playing at the York Theatre from Feb. 5-16.David Cooper Photography
/ David Cooper Photography

The director, choreographer and puppet master behind last summer’s satirical smash Avenue Q is bringing a collection of modern classics to the city’s newest old venue, the York Theatre, with the world premiere of Rodgers & Hammerstein: Out of a Dream.

His company, Patrick Street Productions — which he runs with Katey Wright — was among the groups that lobbied to save the York and Jorgensen’s thrilled to help inaugurate the recently renovated stage.

“It’s a really beautiful space — 351 seats but really intimate,” says Jorgensen. “It has a similar feel to some of the Off-Broadway houses in New York.”

The Sun caught up with the ridiculously busy director while he was taking a lunch break during rehearsals for the other musical he’s opening: a student production of Grease, which runs until Feb. 23 at Langara’s Studio 58.

Jorgensen warns that his version of Grease is grittier than the movie and the Broadway staging, which were sanitized to make the musical safe for mainstream audiences and Olivia Newton John.

“I decided to go back to the original script and score, which has a lot of different things from the movie,” says Jorgensen. “There’s a lot of foul language, they drop f-bombs all over the place and they say much ruder things to each other. It’s a lot rougher and rawer and dirtier.”

Asked about the challenge of opening two shows at the same time, Jorgensen laughs. “Yeah, two shows opening in five or six days — it’s mental.”

But he says he’s able to survive both because the new Rodgers & Hammerstein revue is “sort of a remount.” The company produced a workshop version last February in West Vancouver under the name Some Enchanted Evening. “I’ve tweaked it and made changes to it since then so we have a shorter rehearsal period that overlaps with Grease, so that’s kind of how I juggle it.”

Although his production company focuses on contemporary musicals such as its hit productions of Bat Boy and The Full Monty, Jorgensen felt the time was right to shine a spotlight on R&H because “they really created the contemporary musical.”

With Oklahoma and Carousel, the pair reinvented the conventions of musical theatre, changing the kind of stories that could be told and the way they could be approached.

“You can write differently today but you can’t write any better,” says Jorgensen.

After deciding to tackle the legendary duo, Jorgensen wanted to present more than just a collection of songs but wasn’t interested in crafting a new musical out of old songs, just creating a structure and theme.

“I struck on the idea of the art of a relationship moving from the possibility of love to a love in bloom, complications and separations and then eventually finding a deeper love ... It was important to me that people don’t just appreciate the music of the songs they have created but they appreciate the theatricality of these songs as well.

“So it’s called Out of a Dream because that’s what it should feel like. I’m hoping people just feel swept away into this romantic nostalgic world for a couple of hours.”

And the show was built for a dream team.

“The veterans of the cast would be Warren Kimmel and Caitriona Murphy,” says Jorgensen. “Anyone who goes to musical theatre in Vancouver should know both of them quite well with appearances with us or with the Arts Club.”

Also on the cast is Kaylee Harwood, who is back in Vancouver after a run on Broadway with Jesus Christ Superstar before returning to the Stratford Festival. It’s rounded out by relative newcomers Kazumi Evans and Sayer Roberts.

“I think all of them were born to sing this material,” says Jorgensen. “You really need more than a lot of contemporary musicals; you really need sophisticated singers to pull this music off.”

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Share

World premiere of Rodgers & Hammerstein: Out of a Dream coming to Commercial Drive

Video

Theatre Videos

Best of Postmedia

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Ignore the diversions in the United States: athletes kneeling or standing during the national anthem; Republicans flailing and failing again on health care; a kick-boxing creationist possibly becoming senator from Alabama. Calamity looms elsewhere. We are hurtling toward war with North Korea. It may be as early as next month. […]

It wasn’t in the middle of a farmer’s muddy field or deep in the boreal forest where the Canadian oilsands truly struck pay dirt. It was inside Fort McMurray’s recreation centre. More than 1,400 oilpatch workers, corporate executives, provincial leaders and the country’s prime minister assembled 21 years ago in northern Alberta to grasp a […]

Google’s powerful search engine is defeating some court-ordered publication bans in Canada and undermining efforts to protect young offenders and victims. Computer experts believe it’s an unintended, “mind-boggling” consequence of Google search algorithms. In six high-profile cases documented by the Citizen, searching the name of a young offender or victim online pointed to media coverage […]

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.